Category: Education

This video profiles the educational opportunities for children and adults too in the Bridgewater – Lunenburg – Mahone Bay triangle, including the public schools particularly the newly-opened Bluenose Academy (primary to grade 9) in Lunenburg, Park View Education Centre (grades 10-12, with a variety of options including the International Baccalaureate as well as skilled trades) and the Francophone Centre Scolaire de la Rive-Sud (primary to grade 12) and also the private but accessible South Shore Waldorf School in Blockhouse, and Nova Scotia Community College programs in Bridgewater and Lunenburg.

When you combine the educational opportunities with the sane lifestyle and the beauty around us, Lunenburg County is a great area to raise a family.

An iconic sight in the waters of Mahone Bay and beyond, Dorotheahas taken hundreds of young people on maritime sailing adventures as part of the Nova Scotia Sea School.

It’s the kind of intense, group adventure that teenagers crave and need for their development, and that schools don’t usually provide.

Lives have been changed.

Dorothea needs an overhaul. Compare the $30,000 they’re looking for to the cost of rebuilding Bluenose II! Small projects like this are very satisfying to support as they can have a huge positive impact on individual lives.

We are all delighted to hear that the entire crew of 64 aboard the tall ship Concordia, part of Lunenburg-based Class Afloat program, have been rescued off the coast of Brazil.

The high school and university age have certainly had an education in marine safety. The lesson should not be lost on other boaters, whether we take to the sea for pleasure or for work.

While we still don’t know exactly why the Concordia ran into trouble, the 100% survival rate was made possible by the use of proper safety equipment and procedures. An emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) sounded the alarm, adequate liferafts and zodiac boats were ready to go, and everyone aboard knew what to do. The liferafts kept everyone safe in high seas through the night until rescue could come.

Major Silvio Monteiro Junior, the head of the air command for the Brazil’s Search and Rescue System, speaking with CBC Radio’s As It Happens last night, spoke of the “beautiful” sight that met the rescuers eyes in the morning when the 3 merchant vessels and the liferafts used flares to communicate their positions to each other, and then the “incredible moment” when they knew that all 64 people were safely on board one or another vessel. He pointed out that Brazil and Canada have often worked together in search and rescue operations, and they were pleased to help us out. Thank you, Brazil.

Lennie Gallant plays to the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival crowd in August, 2009, with SV Concordia as a backdrop.

After their triumphant sailpast in the sun in Halifax, several tall ships came to Lunenburg for a mini version of the big event. The Unicorn, in this picture, takes teenaged girls on excursions of several weeks with an all-female crew for life-changing experiences. I heard its captain explain to some astonished men that no, in fact, there aren’t spats among the crew, and in fact they all get along very well. And the ship is clean, particularly the bathrooms, not something you can expect on many ships. I was ready to sign up.

It’s the only Waldorf school in Nova Scotia, and every year it hosts a Mayfair – a one-day event to celebrate the coming of spring. Naturally, a maypole dance is part of the festivities. This year, the students, grade 1-6, actually learned a maypole dance, creating quite a different spectacle from the usual mayhem. I filmed it from where I was sitting and created this little video.